A butcher named and shamed by the Government for not paying the national minimum wage says his shop has been penalised for helping youngsters learn a trade.

Stephen's Family Butchers in St Ives is one of 359 companies across the country named by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for not paying the correct minimum wage level, which currently stands at £6.70. The shop failed to pay £3,542.90 to three workers.

Owner Stephen Alsford said: “The three workers mentioned we considered apprentices of whom joined us to learn the art of seam butchery as there are no colleges in the region that have butchery apprenticeship courses – HMRC said they did not consider them apprentices .

"We argued that if they have no experience in cutting up carcases and we are teaching them a trade they must be apprentices – We have now been penalised for trying to help young people learn the trade of butchery.”

Lakenheath Fab , a metal fabrication firm, says it ran into similar difficulties with an apprenticeship scheme, and stands accused of failing to pay £2,297.71 to one worker.

Manager Martin Chamberlain said: “It was a due to a misunderstanding of the rules for apprentices, by a previous manager who no longer works here.

“The rules around hiring apprentices are so complicated we won’t be doing it again!”

Other companies in the region named include A Class Care at Waterbeach, which failed to pay £618.30 to a care worker.

A spokesperson for the company said: “It was just one isolated incident and it happened three years ago. The company had only been going six months and we weren’t fully aware of the obligations.

“It hasn’t happened since in the investigation of all our staff, and nobody else has been affected.

“We have rectified the situation and that person has been paid fully. Our primary focus now is to ensure we are providing the best possible care to our elderly clients, and delivering safe, effective services to the users.”

ADR Care Homes in St Neots failed to pay £164.24 to one worker, while Beaumont Healthcare Limited in the town failed to pay £2,640.06 to two workers.

Martin Bociek, finance director of Beaumont Healthcare, said: "Beaumont Healthcare has been unfairly singled out for ‘naming and shaming’ by the government as the result of a little-known Accommodation Offset rule. Under these arrangements employers who provide accommodation to their workers can count up to a specified amount (£33.11 a week after October 2011) as payment towards the minimum wage.

"In 2012 Beaumont Healthcare brought over staff from Portugal. They had no contacts in the UK, no savings and no credit history in the UK which made it difficult for them to find accommodation. The incident concerns a period of 12 months in 2013 where accommodation costs were paid in advance for them by Beaumont Healthcare and recovered against wages earned.

"All Beaumont was guilty of was trying to help some workers from Portugal find accommodation locally by paying their rent for them in advance to the landlord and being reimbursed via payroll deduction."

The crackdown will see HMRC recovering arrears for some of the UK’s lowest paid workers, as well as issuing penalties worth around £800,000.

Business Minister Margot James said: "Every worker in the UK is entitled to at least the national minimum or living wage and this government will ensure they get it.

"That is why we have named and shamed more than 350 employers who failed to pay the legal minimum, sending the clear message to employers that minimum wage abuses will not go unpunished."